


Greek Tragedy

by alexcabotsgf



Category: Law & Order: SVU
Genre: F/F, Friends to Lovers, Just gals being pals, So Married, my favorite trope lmao, soft.....this is so soft
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-03-22
Updated: 2016-10-27
Packaged: 2018-05-28 08:24:46
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 5
Words: 4,099
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6322156
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/alexcabotsgf/pseuds/alexcabotsgf
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>Chapters after this one have lines and scenes directly taken from 09x19 (Cold).</p>
    </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Chapters after this one have lines and scenes directly taken from 09x19 (Cold).

Feeling comfortable and safe in her office, Casey Novak kicks her heels off and puts her feet on her desk, leaning back. She takes a sip of cold and bitter coffee before putting her hands behind her head and closing her eyes. _If Donelly saw me like this, she'd kick my ass_ , she thought with a smirk. She knew that nobody would try to argue that she shouldn't make herself comfortable tonight; Casey had just won a case that Olivia Benson, and most of the SVU squad, had nearly given up on. Somehow, the jury had come back with a guilty verdict even after the SVU department wasn't able to turn up any DNA evidence besides a singular hair from the suspect found at the scene of the crime. Casey wanted to believe that it was her impeccable lawyering skills that won her the case, but she knew that they hadn't just _barely_ gotten the win because the suspect's alibi had holes blown through it. Even in knowing this, Casey's arrogant side wouldn't allow her to drop the idea that it was mostly her work. 

Despite her good mood about winning the case, there was something missing: something tall, with coffee-brown eyes, and a smile that could cause every warring nation to lay down their weapons. 

Something that had left her alone in her apartment this morning without a note. 

Even as she crossed her arms and chewed her lip, Casey kept telling herself that she wasn't bitter. She and Olivia weren't even an item, so to speak. Whatever was going on between them was just a wintertime fling, and would be over as soon as the weather didn't cause both of their apartments to be freezing all the time. Olivia spending nights at Casey's, or Casey spending nights at Olivia's, was a practicality. With a couple of added benefits. 

Casey smiled as she recalled the last time she spent the night at Liv's. She had woken up to the feeling of weight settling into the opposite side of the bed. When the strawberry blonde turned to stare up from her pillow, she had seen Olivia, propped up against a couple of pillows, with a heavy book perched on her bent knees. Her lips are pursed, and her finger is toying with the corner of the page, ready to turn it. Casey remembers the way Olivia's eyes flicked downward to meet hers, and how her voice sounded when she said, "What?" Casey shrugs; she didn't want to say that she was just admiring how beautiful Liv looked. That was so unlike her. So, instead of replying, she turned onto her side and went back to sleep. Her last memory of that morning was the feeling of Olivia's hand rested on the side of her head, her thumb occasionally moving down the side of Casey's neck. 

She snapped out of her thoughts and straightened up. John Munch had been knocking on her door for the past few minutes, and had eventually given up and slid a note under the door. "Go home. It's midnight," said his hastily scrawled handwriting. Casey took his advice after realizing how tired she actually was. 

__________________________

This was the first night in a while that Casey had gone to bed without Olivia's fingers resting between the grooves in her ribs, and she felt vaguely uncomfortable not having Liv to settle into if she ever got cold. As she thought about her own discomfort, she cursed herself. There was no way she was going to be reliant on Olivia Benson for comfort at night. No way. 

Willing herself to push Olivia out of her mind, Casey hugged a pillow and mentally shut herself up. 

She didn't fall asleep. 

Casey slid out of bed, shivering as the cold air hit her bare legs, and crept to the kitchen, feeling weak as she found Olivia's name on her contact list. "Hey, can you come over? It's...a little cold tonight." She barely recognized her own voice, but to Casey's joy, Olivia complied. 

Within fifteen minutes, Casey heard the soft knock at her door. 

"Hey." Olivia smiled at her. 

Casey swallowed thickly at the straightforward greeting, feeling like this situation was more complicated than a simple "hey" could describe. It really wasn't that complicated, Casey just felt like it was. 

"Hey, yourself," Casey murmured as she drew the sweater she had thrown on tighter around her body. 

__________________________

Casey's sheets, flannel ones that Alexandra Cabot had gotten her for her birthday, had retained some of the warmth in the spot she had previously been laying. Olivia had been wearing a simple sweatshirt and a pair of jeans when she came over to Casey's apartment, and had traded that outfit for a camisole and a pair of shorts, both borrowed from Casey. 

As Casey felt Olivia's weight shift into the opposite side of her bed, she turns to face the brunette. Olivia was on her back, staring that the ceiling; she hadn't heard Casey turning. 

The strawberry blonde reaches out to tap Olivia on the shoulder, who turns to face Casey. "Hi," Liv mumbled with a lazy smile. 

"Hi," Casey giggled, and before she could retract her hand, Liv caught it and pressed a soft kiss against her skin, then laced her fingers with Casey's. 

Faking a groan at this act of affection, Casey rolled her eyes. "Ugh, gross." 

Liv smirked and moved herself closer to Casey. "Shush, you know you love it." 

"Mhm," Casey chuckled, "Bite me." 

"Hah! 'Bite me'? What are you, Case, ten?" 

"Yeah, on a scale of one to ten." 

Amidst their laughter, the detective's arms snaked around Casey's torso, pulling her even closer. Casey pulled Olivia's hand up to brush her lips against her knuckles, then closed her eyes, trying to ignore the lights from passing cars moving up and down her bedroom walls. Before she was able to slip completely into slumber, she felt Olivia press her lips softly against the forehead, then heard the springs of her bed creak as her friend turned onto her back and settled into her pillow. Casey took the opportunity to move in closer, resting into the crook of Olivia's neck as the brunette wrapped her arm around Casey's shoulders. It was almost silent enough for Casey to hear her own heartbeat coupled with Olivia's, save for the occasional honking of a horn from a car in the street below. 

That's what comes with living in Times Square. It's never completely silent. But as she listened to Olivia's soft breathing, Casey couldn't have cared less about the traffic below.


	2. Chapter 2

Casey groaned when the space next to her shifted, and opened her left eye slightly to see Olivia's silhouette standing over her bed. Her bedside alarm clock read 5:34a.m. Too early. As much as Casey wanted to reach out and grab Olivia's hand, she knew that it was unlike the detective to still be at her apartment when she had to wake up to start getting ready. She felt the brunette's lips lightly brushed against her forehead, and then she was gone. 

The ADA didn't move again until her alarm went off an hour later. Her index finger slammed down on the snooze button. Morning light was streaming through her thin bedroom curtains, and as she sat up and looked over to the space Olivia had previously been, she found her clothes in a neatly folded pile. 

She lost herself in memories of lying with Olivia last night, and barely noticed when her alarm went off again. 

_There goes any hopes of getting coffee before work_ , Casey thought grumpily as she shed her pajamas and got into the shower. She jumped slightly as the cold water hit her, but relaxed as it warmed up quickly. Her hot shower was short-lived, and within minutes she was standing in front of her mirror, wrapped in a towel and tugging a brush through her tangled wet hair. It took ten minutes to blow dry, and even then it was still a little bit damp. _Whatever,_ thought the strawberry blonde as she strode to her room and pulled a pencil skirt and blouse on.

Much to Casey's dismay, it was too late to try and get a taxi to take her to the precinct, so that meant she would have to take the subway. Seconds later, she mentally shrugged; the subway was fast, so why did it matter to her? 

_____________________

 

At the precinct, it was bustling. John Munch was sitting on top of his desk, talking angrily into a phone and chewing a mouthful of sunflower seeds. He nodded at Casey when she passed just as he spit an empty shell into a nearby trash can. When Casey reached the captain's office, she found Olivia and Elliot standing in front of Cragen's desk, engaged in a heated discussion with the captain. "If he's in the hospital, why can't we get answers from him?" Cragen asked angrily. 

"Cap," Elliot said, crossing his arms, "we can't control whether or not a suspect cooperates." 

"Make him cooperate." The captain sounded threatening, and Casey was thankful that she wasn't on the receiving end of his rage. She was almost afraid to ask what was going on. 

Elliot and Olivia were forced to shuffle out of the room, but not after Olivia tossed a soft gaze in Casey's direction before shutting the door. Casey felt her cheeks warm up as she looked up to meet the detective's brown eyes, and willed her blush to go away before she turned towards the captain. 

"What was that about?" 

"Detective Chester Lake shot and killed another detective, Edward Kralik. He's in the hospital right now, and according to Benson and Stabler, not being particularly cooperative. Kralik's death has reopened a ten year old murder case, as well, so if you couldn't tell already, it's been a messy day." 

Casey gave a hollow laugh, "Yeah, I can tell."

After her short conversation with Cragen, Casey was back in the center of the squad room. Olivia looked distraught, sitting at her desk with her head in her hands. The ADA had rarely seen the detective like this, so she knew something must have been wrong. She spoke as gently as possible when she addressed Liv. 

"Hey, don't take it too personally. Cragen's just...being Cragen." 

"Casey, you don't get it. I've tried everything to get this guy to cooperate, aside from throwing him out of his hospital bed. Elliot even threatened to." 

Casey smiled at the thought of Olivia's partner shouting at a guy in a hospital bed; he was really good at the whole threatening cop thing. "I'm sure you guys will figure something out." She avoided mentioning that her ability to make a case rested on the detectives' ability to gather evidence; she didn't want to make Liv even more upset. Instead, she changed the subject. "I wish you could have stayed a little longer this morning," she mumbled, dropping her voice as Detective Tutuola passed by. Nobody in the precinct knew about anything that was happening between Casey and Olivia, aside from the fact that the two were close friends. So whatever was been going on between them for the past couple of months had to be kept on the down low, even if they never planned to put a label on it. 

As much as Casey wanted to stay near Olivia for the rest of the day, she had a pile of paperwork to work through back in her office. She was about to suggest that the two grab lunch together, but then realized she was likely going to be working through lunch today. Olivia spoke before she could even formulate a new plan. 

"Do you want to grab dinner after we're done here? I could use something to take my mind off of today." 

"Sounds like a plan," Casey said with a soft smile at the detective, and slid out of the chair she had taken next to Olivia to pace to her office. When she sat down in her own office chair, she kicked her heels off; it was a usual habit of Casey to take her shoes off in the privacy of her office. Taking her pen in her hand, she took a sip of water and began work on a day's worth of paperwork.


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> sorry this chapter is so short!

Dinner with Liv felt the way Casey expected it to. Comfortable and soothing, much like Liv's presence was. Sometime during their dinner, Liv's hand had traveled over to rest on top of Casey's. The simple action made the ADA's heart flutter, and she looked down at her salad to avoid losing her train of thought. "So, this guy wanted full custody of his children even though he was abusive towards their mother and had a drinking problem he didn't plan on fixing. Liv," Casey said with a tight-lipped smile, "I fucking hate family court." 

The detective's thumb drew small circles on top of Casey's hand. "Well, I'm sure you did great. And don't worry, soon enough El and I will have enough evidence for you to press charges on this Lake case." 

"I hope so," Casey smiled. She looked around the dimly lit restaurant. "Seems like Cragen was ready to ream your asses for not being able to get information." 

Liv grew silent, picking at her own salad. After what seemed like hours, she took a sip of wine and finally spoke. "I don't get what his problem is. Elliot and I are trying our best." She leaned closer to Casey, dropping her voice a little bit. "What would you do in our situation?" 

Casey wanted to laugh. The great Olivia Benson was asking her ADA for advice on how to gather evidence? They must really be stuck. "Liv," she said, "you know how I feel about being asked to do detectives' jobs for them." She tried to force a smile so the comment didn't come out as bitchy as it sounded. 

Olivia's head fell into her hands. "Ugh, I know," she groaned. 

The strawberry blonde reached over to grab the detective's hand. "You'll figure something out, I have faith in you." 

_Okay, try to sound a little bit more sappy and disgusting,_ Casey thought to herself. After spending a couple hours at the restaurant, talking about anything and everything, the two were outside, waiting for cabs home. It was cold, colder than it had been when they got there, and Casey drew her blue peacoat tightly around her body and leaned into Olivia. She had shut her eyes against the wind caused by passing traffic while Olivia made efforts to keep her hair out of her face. A cab passed by, and Olivia waved it down first. After a hug that lasted a little bit longer than hugs "normally" do, Liv disappeared inside the car and Casey was left standing alone on the sidewalk. 

Fortunately, she was able to wave a cab down shortly after Olivia left, and was in her warm, cozy apartment within thirty minutes. 

___________________________________

Exhausted as she was, Casey wasn't ready to go to sleep just yet. Perched at the breakfast bar, sipping a cup of cold coffee, she narrowed her eyes at the screen of her laptop. Even though she couldn't do their jobs for them, she could at least make an effort to help Olivia and Elliot. Her willingness to help might have had something to do with her feelings for Olivia, but she had no plan to admit that to anyone. As her green eyes flicked over articles about difficult interviewees and interrogation techniques, she wrote notes and bullet points furiously on a pad of paper next to her coffee. After she had about a page and a half of writing, she tossed the paper pad into her briefcase and poured her coffee down the drain, sliding off of the stool she was sitting on. 

She was curled into a ball on the couch now, eyes fixed on a documentary about sexual assault on college campuses. A young man was on the screen, trying to argue that having sex with someone who said no doesn't automatically make you a rapist. "Yes, it does, asshole," Casey mumbled, frowning at the screen. She smiled to herself when a black screen with white text read that the man speaking had been arrested and imprisoned for sexual assault two months later. Despite the emptiness of her apartment, Casey laughed bitterly. Working with the SVU department had not only made her cutthroat and unforgiving to rapists, but also rape apologists. Casey decided that it wasn't a negative trait to have as she turned the TV off and drifted towards her bedroom.

She lay awake in bed for a while, tapping her fingers against her stomach. For whatever reason, Casey was unable to get comfortable. She turned on to her side to stare at her alarm clock; something about the atmosphere wouldn't allow her to fall asleep. There seemed to be a sort of looming discomfort in the air, and Casey wondered if Liv felt it too. As much as she tried to push it out of her mind, the ADA felt as if something bad was going to happen.


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> short-ish chapter, but I finally updated this. new chapter should be up within the next couple of days :)

Casey's throat felt tight. In a week, Chester Lake shot and killed another police officer, convinced a victim who was raped ten years ago to testify, the SVU department had found a suspect to that rape, and Casey had been thrown under the bus by defense attorney Donna Emmett. She had stood in front of Judge Donnelly, waiting to hear what she had to say. Before she had stepped into the office she nearly had a panic attack, but was somehow able to convince herself that she wasn't in trouble. As she was met with Elizabeth Donnelly's cold stare, she knew that wasn't the case. 

"You wanted to see me, Judge Donnelly?" Casey's voice didn't sound like hers. 

"Yes. The um, the DA is declining to refile charges against Thomas Krane."

"He raped and murdered Alissa Hernandez and he gets to keep his badge?"

"Because of your actions, Counselor."

"With all due respect, ma'am, this doesn't concern you."

"It does now." Donnelly slid a file across her desk to Casey. 

"I'm being called before the bar," Casey whispered, almost in complete disbelief. 

"At my insistence." 

Casey bristled, fighting back frustrated tears and choking back an audible sob. "Why?" Her voice broke, and she flicked tears away from her eyes. 

"Because you lost perspective. And because I sit on the peer review board and I cannot allow you to commit a Brady violation and lie to the court without consequence," Donnelly calmly stated, folding her hands on top of her desk. 

"The reports weren't finished, Your Honor! I sent them back!"

Now angry, Donnelly's words were rushed. "You lied to Petrovsky and now you're lying to me. The lab reports were dated and stamped! We are all civil servants, Casey! No one is falling on their sword for you!" She paused, composing herself. "What I want to know is why."

Now confident in her ability to stay calm, Casey spoke quietly. "Because the bad guys can't always win. He deserved to pay." She knew Thomas Krane was guilty, she just had to prove it.

"And so do you."

Casey sighed. "How much trouble am I in?"

"Censure. Possible suspension."

"For how long?"

Judge Donnelly shrugged. "A year. Maybe more."

"What should I do?" Casey had started to cry again, and she avoided Donnelly's gaze and stared at a wall. 

"Something else."

Her conversation with Elizabeth Donnelly happened two weeks ago. In those two weeks, Casey had only eaten maybe five full meals, didn't get out of bed for any reason other than to use the bathroom, and cried. After about a week, the grief she felt over her suspension had changed to a numb feeling in her chest. She hadn't seen Olivia at all. She didn't want to see anybody. Her apartment was a mess of papers, empty bottles, and tissues. Casey didn't care. She didn't see the point in caring about anything.

For a couple of minutes immediately after Casey woke up every morning, she thought about what case the SVU department had for her to work. And then, when she remembered that she was on suspension, wouldn't be working any time soon. After remembering that, Casey was crushed with the desire to "cry, and throw shit, and kill myself", as she told Alexandra Cabot during a long phone call in the early morning. 

The day immediately following her conversation with Donnelly, Casey stayed up for 48 hours without a wink of sleep. Her entire body was fueled with coffee and rage for those two days.

Then the depression hit. It was different than the depression she had dealt with since her teenage years. This was worse. Uncontrollable. Casey's mind was overwhelmed by thoughts that she wasn't worth anything anymore. Olivia called her a couple of times, and left messages when Casey didn't pick up. Sometimes, on the nights Casey was crying herself sick, she would listen to the messages. Nothing really helped Casey feel better for a prolonged period, but hearing Liv tell her that she was worried about her dulled the ache in her chest a little bit.


	5. Chapter 5

Months into Casey's suspension, she wasn't feeling any better. She tried to find ways to fill her time, was unsuccessful, and resorted to hiding under her covers. It was a vicious cycle, and Casey wasn't sure if she'd ever be able to come out of it. She'd spent so much time dodging calls and texts from Olivia that the detective had stopped reaching out to her - Casey assumed she just didn't care about her anymore. 

The daily fits of crying had stopped sometime during the second month of her suspension - she wouldn't go so far as to call it acceptance, but Casey recognized that no amount of crying would convince Donnelly to bring her back. Even though she wasn't crying every day, there were still moments in the morning, when her alarm went off at 5:45am, that she would start to get ready for work. Sometimes she would even get so far in her morning routine that she would be getting ready to leave her apartment before she would remember that she was on suspension, and she would be so caught off guard that she would start to cry. After having a routine of going to work for so long, it disrupted Casey's entire life to have this routine broken so suddenly. 

Tonight was one of the easier nights for Casey's emotional state. She had just finished eating dinner, and was now sitting in the large clawfoot bathtub her apartment was so lucky to have, reading a book and sipping a glass of rosé. It was funny to her, how she could be so distraught one moment and so calm the next, but she was thankful for the existence of the calm nights. 

In between the passages of her book, Casey would stare at the bubbles floating atop the water. Whatever bubblebath it was that she had used, it lasted for quite awhile. She had been soaking in the tub for about a half hour, and the bubbles had not even begun to die down yet. 

When she had shut her book, finished her glass of rosé, and drained the water, Casey stood in front of the mirror, wrapped in a towel. She made mental notes of the physical toll this suspension had taken on her: her face was gaunt, the skin under her eyes was a deep purple from lack of sleep, her collarbones and shoulder bones stuck out, and the capillaries underneath her skin were visible and and bright blue against the pale white of her skin. She looked sick. She was sick. 

Instead of putting actual clothes on, Casey only put a silk robe on. She had shuffled into the kitchen to put her wine glass in the sink when she heard a quiet knock on the door. Thinking it was probably someone accidentally hitting her door on the way into their own apartment, Casey ignored it. 

Another knock, this time stronger, sounded from the other side of the door.

"Jesus," Casey mumbled, making her way to the door. She didn't even look to see who it was before she opened the door.

She felt her heart stop when she saw a shivering, soaking wet Olivia Benson standing on her welcome mat. 

"I just wanted to make sure you hadn't offed yourself."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> HELLO EVERYONE!!!! Wow, it's been awhile since I posted anything. I had a little bit of a rough summer, but I am BACK and ready to be Casey/Olivia garbage again. This is a little bit of a short chapter, but I just needed to write something to set up the rest of the story :)


End file.
